This invention relates to artificial mulch, and, in particular, to a rollable artificial mulch carpet that can be cut to desired size and shape.
Garden areas contain plants and flowers that a gardener likes and wishes to display. A great deal of effort is expended in taking care of the plants that have been located within a garden area. These efforts include ensuring the plants obtain the appropriate amounts of water and atmosphere needed to allow the plants to flourish. In providing this favorable environment for desirable plants, however, other non-desirable plants take advantage of these same favorable conditions. As a result, both desirable and undesirable plants can be found in many garden areas.
One solution to eliminating these unwanted plants, otherwise known as weeds, is to trim these plants using one of the various weed cutting tools available to gardeners such as string trimmers and hand clippers. However, while this may cut down the weeds currently within the garden, the roots for the weeds remain and the weeds usually grow back within a few days or weeks. To eliminate the weeds, some gardeners try to pull the entire weed, root and all, from the garden soil. This is a very tedious effort and is usually met with only moderate success because the roots of some weeds go deeply into the ground. Other methods such as herbicides are also used, however, use of such herbicides always presents the danger that the herbicide may be just a lethal to the desirable plants as to the undesirable plants.
While there are other solutions to eliminating undesirable plants while providing moisture and atmosphere to the desirable plants, perhaps the most commonly used solution is the application of various types of mulch within gardens. The normal mulching process includes the generation of mulch by shredding or chipping various types of wood and/or barks. This mulch is then placed on those areas of the garden that the gardener wishes to protect from the imbedding and growth of undesirable plants. Because the mulch is generally porous, water filters through the mulch and enters the ground to allow the desirable plants to obtain the moisture those plants need to live and flourish. Additionally, this same porosity allows the atmosphere to come into contact with the garden soil thereby allowing other important nutrients to enter the garden soil. The coverage provided by the mulch prevents sunlight from reaching the garden soil to prevent the growth of undesirable plants. The mulch also prevents unwanted plant growth by applying pressure to any weed sprouts that may attempt to push through the mulch.
Although mulch provides a good way to control the growth of weeds, mulch does have some undesirable characteristics. First, mulch can be very expensive to apply to a garden area. Generally, the better grades of mulch are the best protection against weeds and also provide the best overall garden appearance. However, the better grades of mulch are also expensive. Second, due to the biodegradable nature of wood mulch, the mulch often needs to be maintained and even replenished periodically. The mulch can also be subject to weather conditions that may blow or erode the mulch from the garden area. Any delay in replenishing degraded mulch quickly results in the entrance of weed seeds within a garden and the subsequent proliferation of weeds throughout the garden area. Finally, if the wrong mulch is used, or if the wrong amount of mulch is applied to a garden area, water and air may actually be completely prohibited from enter the garden soil resulting in damage to the desirable plants within the garden area. Natural wood mulch is also very attractive to insects—especially termites. Finally, because the mulch is made from tree fiber, use of such material can contribute to the overuse of tree and tree byproducts.
As can be seen, the use of standard mulch made from biodegradable tree and tree byproducts has a number of disadvantages.